Senior sports writer for The Age

AFL boss Andrew Demetriou is directly warning players of the dangers of dabbling in drugs that are not approved for human use, in addition to the established bogies of performance-enhancing, illicit and prescription drugs.

Demetriou, who started briefing players and staff from the 18 clubs on the state of the game this week, has already told players from two clubs about the dangers of four different types of drugs - including those not approved for human use by the Therapeutic Goods Administration in this country.

In briefing players at all clubs about the drugs-in-sport issue, Demetriou's message is that players who are involved in illegal activities ''will be caught'' because of the greater investigative powers of law enforcement agencies such as the Australian Crime Commission.

While the Essendon scandal has centred on the question of whether the Bombers took substances that violate the World Anti-Doping Agency code, the issue of substances not approved for human use has been put on the agenda by rugby league club Cronulla, which is alleged to have used equine substances without TGA approval for humans.

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Demetriou said his message to the players and staff at the clubs - which reiterated what club boards had heard - was based on the contents of the explosive and contentious ACC report.

''It's not a new thing from us, it's in the ACC report,'' he said. ''So that was what we briefed all the clubs about. Sport, globally, and our sport is not immune, has vulnerabilities … one is obviously performance-enhancing [drugs] which are on the WADA list. One is to drugs that are not necessarily on the WADA list but are banned for human consumption, prescription drugs which you've seen recently with swimming and, obviously, illicit drugs.

''We're saying that there are people with far greater powers than us who are aware of some of these activities because they've got incredible, extraordinary investigative powers.'' Demetriou said these powers included the ability to record phone calls.

Demetriou said the players from the two clubs briefed had received this message on drugs ''very, very well, from what I can gather''.

The players were also given a review of the 2012 season and updates on equalisation and the AFL's ''growth agenda'' for the next five years. The players were being briefed, with all staff, because clubs felt they should be given the same information as the club hierarchies.

Demetriou said the AFL had, meanwhile, brought in external consultants to help it reach a position on Sydney's much-debated cost of living allowance.

''We've got external people helping us with that. My guess is that we'll probably try and get to [a] position on that probably [in the] early part of second half of the year.''

Demetriou also confirmed the AFL was part-funding North Melbourne's novel US recruit through an international development scholarship that was available to all clubs. He said Eric Wallace had been recruited via a ''development scholarship which I understand we are contributing to''.

The ACC report into criminal links with sport was released in February and has been both hailed as a breakthrough and heavily criticised for a lack of specifics.